Oil's toxic legacy not erased

The U.S. government declared that BP's damaged Macondo well gushed almost 5 million barrels of oil in to the Gulf of Mexico. It is officially the largest accidental oil spill in human history — almost 20 times larger than the Exxon Valdez incident.

As we learned from Exxon Valdez, oil disasters of this magnitude leave a toxic legacy on the environment and the communities that depend on it for their livelihoods — a legacy that can last for decades.

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One toxic legacy of the BP disaster that has gotten scant attention is disposal of all the oiled waste: the debris from cleanup — like booms and the contaminated water.

Oiled debris can raise potential health threats in the collection and transport of the waste, as well as in the future operation of landfills. Are these landfills properly lined? Are the linings being maintained? Is there appropriate monitoring to ensure waste does not leach into surrounding groundwater?

If any debris is burned — the means of disposal discussed in several areas — air emissions could pose significant health threats for local residents. For facilities treating and storing liquid waste, the concern is whether it is properly stored — so it doesn’t contaminate local wells used for drinking water.

According to BP’s Oil Spill Waste Summary, as of Aug. 1, almost 40,000 tons of this oiled waste is in landfills in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. The waste is primarily oiled booms, clothing and debris; tar balls that may be too mixed with other chemicals like dispersants for reclamation; oil-contaminated soils, sands and vegetative debris; animal carcasses, and other trash associated with the cleanup activities.

BP also reported that, as if Aug. 1, approximately 11 million gallons of liquid and oily liquid waste had been disposed of in facilities in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.

This massive stream of oiled waste is where the toxic legacy of the BP disaster will live on.

One of the few ways to minimize this toxic waste is to focus on oil recovery during the cleanup process. But unfortunately, as we’ve seen over the past few months, advanced oil recovery technology just isn’t there yet. For BP, it’s far cheaper to landfill the waste than invest in developing new technologies.

But, when all the oiled waste gets landfilled, it doesn’t just disappear. It ends up in the backyards of communities already affected by the disaster. Usually, it exacerbates long-standing environmental justice issues in the region.

The Gulf Coast has a long history of environmental injustices. Consider Louisiana’s “cancer alley,” an 85-mile stretch up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in whicn more than 140 oil refineries and petrochemical plants jostle the fencelines of primarily African-American communities.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina generated more than 100 million cubic acres of debris, which often ended up in landfills near low-income communities and communities of color.

For example, many attempts were made to open Chef Menteur landfill adjacent to one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the Gulf region, to accept hurricane trash. History may now be repeating itself with the BP disaster.